美国国家公共电台 NPR--Talk of 'invasion' moves from the fringe to the mainstream of GOP immigration message

Talk of 'invasion' moves from the fringe to the mainstream¹ of GOP immigration message

Transcript²

In Republican primary races this year, few issues have come up more in TV ads than immigration. And one word in particular stands out: invasion.

A few years ago, that word was confined to the fringes of the immigration debate. Most candidates would avoid it.

In this election cycle, it's moved squarely into the mainstream.

"We're gonna end this invasion," Blake Masters, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Arizona, says in a campaign ad.

The word has also appeared in ads for Gov. Brian Kemp in Georgia, Sen. Rick Scott in Florida, and Kari Lake, who's locked in a close race in the Republican primary for governor in Arizona.

"Before these ideas might have been seen as outliers. But now, it is really troubling," said Vanessa Cárdenas, the deputy director of America's Voice, an immigrant advocacy group that's been tracking political ads. It's found dozens of ads that use the word invasion by Republicans campaigning all over the country.

"This type of rhetoric³, it's meant to agitate⁴ people for political reasons," Cárdenas said, "because it makes people feel anger and hate."

Ties to a conspiracy⁵ theory

It's been three years since a white gunman opened fire at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killing⁶ 23 people, most of them Latino. The suspect was motivated by what he called a "Hispanic invasion" of people coming to the U.S. illegally.

Since then, the number of migrant apprehensions⁷ at the southern U.S. border has climbed to new records — while the political rhetoric around immigration has gotten more extreme.

The word invasion has a long history in white nationalist circles. For years, it was used widely by supporters of the "replacement⁸ theory" — the false conspiracy theory that says Jews or elites⁹ are deliberately¹⁰ replacing white Americans with immigrants and people of color. Until recently, you rarely heard it from Republican officeholders or candidates.

So what changed? For one thing, former President Trump¹¹, who used the word invasion a lot.

"Trump kind of exposed the kinds of rhetoric that resonated with the Republicans," said John Thomas, a Republican strategist based in California.

Thomas is working with several candidates for state office in Texas who've used "invasion" in their messaging this election cycle. That's partly because of Trump's example, he says. But for Thomas, the bigger issue is what's happening at the southern border, where the number of migrant apprehensions is on pace to exceed 2 million this year — breaking the record set just last year.

"The word invasion presses the hot buttons of Republican voters as they feel that it's a much bigger deal than it was before," Thomas said. "The rhetoric is increasing its intensity¹² to match."

Southern border apprehensions climb

"I've never ever seen what we're seeing today," said Brad Coe, the longtime sheriff of Kinney County, Texas, at a press conference last month. Coe said his deputies are overwhelmed trying to catch unauthorized migrants crossing through ranches¹³ and small towns.

"This is unprecedented¹⁴ in Kinney County," he said. "Our numbers are gonna triple. We cannot sustain this type of invasion."

Immigration hardliners argue that it's fair to use the word invasion even if the migrants crossing the border don't look like a traditional military force, in part because their sheer numbers have distracted law enforcement officers from responding to other threats.

But immigrant advocates say the invasion narrative¹⁵ is fundamentally misleading.

Almost half of all migrants apprehended¹⁶ at the southern border are quickly expelled back to Mexico. Nearly all are unarmed. Many are fleeing poverty and violence and autocratic governments all over the hemisphere, and turning themselves in to the Border Patrol in hopes of getting asylum¹⁷ or other protections in the U.S.

A 'target' on the backs of immigrants

"They're mothers and children and fathers, people who are basically doing what any one of us would do if we were in their shoes," said Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat¹⁸ who represents El Paso in Congress.

What worries Escobar is that this invasion rhetoric will inspire another tragedy like the mass shooting in the El Paso Walmart — or the shooting earlier this year in Buffalo¹⁹, where the man suspected of killing 10 Black people was also motivated by the replacement theory.

"I am very, very concerned for communities like mine that we will see more acts of violence committed against immigrants, against Latinos, because of this rhetoric," Escobar said on a call with reporters last month.

Advocates say this increasingly extreme language is putting a target on the backs of immigrants — one that will still be there when the midterm elections have come and gone.

1 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

4 agitate   

vi.(for,against)煽动，鼓动；vt.搅动

参考例句：

• They sent agents to agitate the local people.他们派遣情报人员煽动当地的民众。
• All you need to do is gently agitate the water with a finger or paintbrush.你只需要用手指或刷子轻轻地搅动水。

5 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 apprehensions   

疑惧

参考例句：

• He stood in a mixture of desire and apprehensions. 他怀着渴望和恐惧交加的心情伫立着。
• But subsequent cases have removed many of these apprehensions. 然而，随后的案例又消除了许多类似的忧虑。

8 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

9 elites   

精华( elite的名词复数 )； 精锐； 上层集团； （统称）掌权人物

参考例句：

• The elites are by their nature a factor contributing to underdevelopment. 这些上层人物天生是助长欠发达的因素。
• Elites always detest gifted and nimble outsiders. 社会名流对天赋聪明、多才多艺的局外人一向嫌恶。

10 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

11 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

12 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

13 ranches   

大农场， （兼种果树，养鸡等的）大牧场( ranch的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They hauled feedlot manure from the ranches to fertilize their fields. 他们从牧场的饲养场拖走肥料去肥田。
• Many abandoned ranches are purchased or leased by other poultrymen. 许多被放弃的牧场会由其他家禽监主收买或租用。

14 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

15 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

16 apprehended   

逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解

参考例句：

• She apprehended the complicated law very quickly. 她很快理解了复杂的法律。
• The police apprehended the criminal. 警察逮捕了罪犯。

17 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

18 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

19 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。